Barents Sea

MOSCOW, August 4. /TASS/. For the first time since 1947, Russia and Norway have begun to adjust the border between the two states, the Russian Consulate General in the Norwegian city of Kirkenes reported on its Facebook page on Tuesday.

"In accordance with an Agreement between the USSR and Norway governments on the regime of the Soviet-Norwegian border and the settlement of frontier disputes and incidents of December 29, 1949, the border adjustment work should be carried out every 25 years," the Consulate General said.

The border between Norway and Russia runs mainly through rivers, lakes and marshes that are constantly shifting. The aim of the charting is to move the border to areas of the river that are the deepest. "Charting of the river bottom is done by the Russian mapping agency Aerogeodezia, while Norwegian officials are supporting the Russian surveyors with equipment and staff, showing them where the river is navigable," the report says.

The Russian mapping agency plans to complete the work this autumn. Norwegian aerial photos of the border will also be used in the mapping. The final border line will be established by the two countries’ foreign ministries. The goal is that neither country will lose any territory.

The frontier between Norway and Russia consists of a 195.7-kilometer land border between Sor-Varanger, Norway, and Pechengsky district, Russia, and a 23.2-kilometer marine border in the Varangerfjord. It further consists of a border between the two countries’ exclusive economic zones in the Barents Sea and the Arctic Ocean.